Anthony Sowell was considered unlikely to attack again in 2005 evaluation

Chuck Crow, The Plain DealerAnthony Sowell, center. was arraigned on murder charges in Judge Ronald B. Adrine's courtroom. A report in 2005 -- three months after Sowell was released from prison -- determined that he was not likely to assault women again.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The chances of Anthony Sowell sexually assaulting another woman after serving 15 years in prison for attempted rape were supposed to be low.

That was the conclusion of the report evaluating him three months after his June 2005 release from prisons.

The report, reviewed by The Plain Dealer, appears to be horribly wrong. The bodies of 11 women have been found or unearthed at Sowell's home on Imperial Avenue on Cleveland's southeast side. He is in jail facing aggravated murder and rape charges.

The report was done for Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to evaluate whether Sowell was a sexual predator.

It also provides the most detailed history of Sowell's life from his childhood in Cleveland through his time in prison for sexually assaulting a pregnant woman in East Cleveland in 1989.

The evaluation is standard procedure for sex offenders just out of prison. It said that of 100 offenders with criminal histories like Sowell's, only six would commit another sex crime within five years of being released.

But the report cautioned: "These estimates do not directly correspond to the recidivism of an individual offender but to the risk group in which they fall."

This conclusion was reached after reviewing Sowell's history and interviewing him for 90 minutes on Sept. 1, 2005.

Sowell arrived early for the interview. He was coherent, cooperative and polite, showing no signs of mental illness.

"Initially, the defendant complained bitterly about the sexual predator evaluation and hearing process," the report says. "This dissipated after the defendant engaged in the interview."

He was born into a working-class Cleveland home in 1959. His father was a construction worker who moved out while his son was still an infant, leaving the child's mother, who worked for a dry cleaner, to raise him and a younger sister.

Sowell had friends, but other children teased and bullied him. He didn't participate in organized sports, but played with other neighborhood children, according to the report.

He took shop classes at Shaw High School but didn't have enough credits to graduate by the end of his senior year.

He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in January 1978.

Nine months later, a local woman gave birth to Sowell's daughter.

He spent time in North Carolina, California and Okinawa, Japan with the Marines. He took some GED classes and worked as an electrician.

He married a fellow Marine in 1981.

At one point, he went AWOL for two months. His discipline included being knocked down in rank.

He was a sergeant in 1985 when he received an honorable discharge. That same year, he and his wife divorced.

During the interview, Sowell was asked about his sexual habits.

Sowell went to strip clubs, looked at pornographic magazines and watched pornographic videos. He said he lost his virginity at age 17 and estimated he had been with "more than 50" women since then.

During the nearly five years between the military and prison, Sowell had at least six drinks nearly every day. Sometimes, he started drinking when he woke up. At times, he would lose control or black out.

"He acknowledged having family problems and increased aggressiveness when drinking," the report said.

Sowell was convicted of domestic violence when he was 28. Two years later, in 1989, he said police suspected him of aggravated burglary, but didn't have enough evidence to charge him.

Sowell said he was drinking the night he committed the crime that would land him in prison.

He went to a motel on Euclid Avenue and told a woman he knew from around the neighborhood that her boyfriend wanted him to take her to his place.

The woman, who was pregnant at the time, told police he bound, gagged and raped her.

He was charged with kidnapping, attempted rape and rape. In the interview, he said he pleaded guilty because he didn't have a "good defense" in the case.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1990. While inside, he worked as an assembler, cook, electrician, food cart attendant, porter and a yard crewman. He also got his GED.

He also completed the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program along with programs for anger management, drug awareness and positive personality change.

He applied to a sexual offender treatment program in 1993, but wasn't accepted because he denied he had committed a sex crime.